The name of the BE leftovers conference is....

[MU_Iceman]

Drumroll please....... America 12 Conference


http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr-saturday/schools-used-big-east-reportedly-might-patriotic-conference-190411319--ncaaf.html

[Markedman]

Conference USA 2 wasn't taken was it?

[The Reptile]

So, now they can accept any school and merge with any conference and not be cited with a geographical violation. Good for them!

[IWB]

America 12? To quote Ron Burgundy in his ESPN audition, "That's a terrible name. It's dumb."

And why do you have to have the number identifier in there? Didn't you learn anything from the Big 10-11-12-14 or the Big XII-XI-X?

[The Reptile]

Good point, IWB. It should be America X. X being a variable rather than the Roman numeral for 10. It allows them to go up or down without any penalty. And it makes the schools look smarter, which is difficult for many of them with the exception of Navy (smugness intended).

[IWB]

Not to mention, many of the schools came from Conference USA - Conference USA & America 12? Really should try to separate yourselves from USA/America.

Either way, American Athletic Conference would have been better than America 12.

[Halo]

This shows why it was so crucial for the C7 to get the Big East name, even at a very high cost. People would have been ripping the name of it no matter what and laughed at. It's a tremendous brand name and really back to it's roots of being a basketball school first. For schools that can recruit against it, the BE schools can point back to the rich history of the BE. You don't have that name, you can't tell the story as well. Certainly the recruits parents can identify with the old BE with Ewing and Mullin.

What a great move overall for the C7 schools.

[ValiantSailor]

Sounds like the twelfth iteration of an America's Cup boat.

VS

[TulsaWarrior]

It sounds like a trial balloon to me. Perhaps Marquette should have done that with "Gold."

[MayorBeluga]

Conference America? Sounds like a fan geek convention for the movie Captain America.

Originally Hizzoner thought MSG was more important than the name Big East. This make The Mayor realize both are vital to the growth of the best non-football conference in, well, America.